After The Fact Ch 03 1

SOOOOO sorry this took so long. Work and school are KILLING me. Exams are next week and I am studying like a mofo. Good news though. I'm pulling an A in microeconomics. So I promise, the wait has been worth it!

This story has proven to be quite difficult to write, Marcus is a difficult nut to crack to say the least.

No editor, rip away.

*****

**5 YEARS AGO**

"All right you guys the countdown begins in less than one minute and we begin to welcome in the new year!" The host screamed standing up on the table.

The room was filled with festivity.

Balloons and streamers were everywhere. People were stirring, trying to quickly find someone to kiss at midnight.

Everyone except for Marcus.

He leaned against the back wall cradling a warm beer in a red solo cup.

Marcus had just been dumped by his girlfriend the day prior and he really wasn't in a partying mood.

He tried. He promised his friends he would try but he just didn't want to be here.

Marcus' his friends were trying to help but that help had stopped once they had gotten to the party and had each found eye-candy to attach themselves to.

He couldn't blame them, he'd of done the same thing.

Marcus watched as the hosted back on the table with her date and started to yell the New Year's countdown.

"OK everybody!" She was clearly drunk, "in 10...9...8..."

He just felt even worse as he saw all the couples partnering up to welcome in the new year.

He kept looking around until he saw them. While his eyes were scamming everyone else, these eyes were looking directly at him.

He was cute but his whole demeanor was bumming her out.

She thought about backing out but she'd come too far.

A was a dare and she'd see this one through.

All she had to do was kiss a complete stranger at midnight and she had... less than five seconds to do it!

She stopped thinking and marched forward.

Marcus looked ahead at the girl in the gold sparkly mask and she stalked towards him like she'd found her prey.

Clearly she was approaching him.

She made her way to him, closer than he expected.

"3!", He heard in the background at the strange girl left her hands to either side of his face.

"2!", She pulled her self up on her tippy toes and his face down to meet hers.

"1!", Their lips met.

Happy new year! The rest of the room screamed but it fell on deaf ears.

The two stranger sure to kiss that was reserved for couples that had known each other for years.

Neither let go, on the contrary, Marcus pulled tighter and his mystery girl moaned into him.

He had no idea who this girl was but she was absolute magic.

He didn't want to stop; it didn't matter that he didn't even know her name.

The strange girl pulled her face away slowly, looked into his bright blue eyes and smiled-

"Hi." Was all she said.

"Hi." Marcus returned, unsure of what was supposed to happen now.

"What's your name?"

"Marcus," he said as he thumbed the edge of the mask that kept her face hidden, tempted to reveal her.

"And you are?"

She smiled.

"Hi Marcus, I'm Lila."

**PRESENT DAY**

Just laying in bed thinking of that moment.

The first time they'd met, the first time they'd kissed.

He looked over at the clock on his bedside table.

11:59.

Five years. It would be five years since the moment they first laid eyes on each other.

Marcus was pulled out of his thoughts when the body next to him stirred beneath the sheets.

He stilled, praying she wouldn't wake up, or if she did she would go home. He had been horny earlier when he hit the bars with his friends; horny and itching to get drunk.

Now that he'd satisfied both needs all he wanted was to be alone.

God what was her name?

Candy? Candice? Oh whatever, as if it even matters.

He looked back at the clock.

12:00.

Midnight.

I miss you Lila.

** ** ** ** **

4 WEEKS LATER

Marcus woke up with a pounding headache.

Looking to his right he noticed the empty sheets.

He sighed a sound of relief at getting to avoid any awkward exchanges. He sat up and rubbed his eyes trying to finish waking himself up.

Marcus quietly berating himself for engaging in yet another one-night stand. He didn't even remember her name.

Right then the bathroom door opened and Marcus jumped in surprise.

Shit.

Long dirty blonde hair shook down over a tall skinny frame, covering the mystery guests face.

Please don't be...

The blonde hair flipped back revealing an overly tanned face beaming right at him.

Candice.

Marcus groaned inwardly.

"Good morning tiger."

Marcus gave her a tight smile but said nothing.

"Got any plans today?" She said looking at him with big doe brown eyes.

Clearly she was hoping he was going to make her part of any plans he had.

But Marcus had no such intention.

Marcus turned his body, placing his feet firmly on his wood floors.

The sheet was the only thing covering his nudity and he didn't want her getting any ideas.

"Umm...probably just some housework. Nothing too exciting. You?" He asked as he rummaged his hand around the floor looking for his boxers.

She looked slightly disappointed at his answer.

There they are.

He snatched up his underwear from under the bed and moved to put them on.

"Me neither. Just figured I'd see if anything popped up."

Kill me.

"Gotcha." Marcus responded as he stood and stretched. "Well I'm going to get my day started but it was fun."

"Oh, "Candice said glumly, "Ok, well. Let me know if you'd be up to hang out later. I could even stay and help you clean or something."

"Uh...no thanks," Marcus was moving towards the bathroom and had barely made eye contact as he skimmed by. "Listen I'm gonna take a shower but feel free to grab some toast or something on your way out."

With that he closed the bathroom door behind him and let out a breath of relief. He knew he was being an asshole about it, especially since he was probably the one to text her to come over. Honestly he didn't remember how it had gone down, he'd been too shit faced to really know what he'd been doing.

It had become a bad habit. Getting home from work, drinking til the room was a blur, and then texting the most convenient girl at the time.

What the hell is wrong with me?

He asked himself.

He'd never been like this before.

Marcus hopped in the shower and quickly got himself ready for the day. He had to stop by the firehouse to put in a few hours for a friend and then he'd get to start his one-week vacation.

If he could even call it that, he'd just hang around the house and watch tv.

Whatever. Time off was time off, especially since he'd been working himself to the brink of death. He needed a break.

Marcus grabbed something to eat, fed the dog and headed out.

** ** ** ** **

Marcus arrived home late that evening utterly exhausted. He walked into his kitchen from the outside and groaned at the sight.

He been living in a pigsty and he'd been too busy with work to notice. Well work and other extracurricular activities that involve mostly alcohol.

Tomorrow is Saturday and the first day of his vacation. Surely he wouldn't want to do any cleaning up on his first day off.

Reluctantly he began picking up around the kitchen. He tossed empty beer bottles in the garbage, dirty plates in the sink, sifted through mail he hadn't bothered to look at before.

He sprayed the counters and wipe them down.

Marcus honestly hadn't realized how filthy the place had become.

When he was done with that he turned around to survey would also need a cleaning.

The kitchen table.

It was worse than the counters had been.

He began pulling off trash he tossed on the table and all other bits of crap.

More dishes, more beer bottles, more mail.

His mother would be appalled he thought smirking to himself.

Marcus had just finished pushing another pile of junk mail into the trash when he turned back to the table.

There was nothing else.

Nothing else except for a box.

For a moment he had actually forgotten.

Then it hit him again.

The damned box.

He wondered if that's why he began dumping crap over the table in the first place. He'd been creating a sort of fort to shield from his sight.

Like he could get rid of it without actually throwing it away.

Even he had to admit: he been avoiding it. Putting off the promise he made to Marta.

Marcus stepped over to his fridge and swung open the door.

He grabbed a beer off the shelf, twisted the top off, and took a large swallow before looking back the box.

How much longer could he dodge it?

Clearly not too much longer with the box sitting there, practically staring him in the face.

Fine

, he thought,

I'll do it

.

But only to prove that it's nothing. There's nothing in there that's going to bring her back, nothing that would make him feel better.

Marcus placed the bottle one the table before reaching for the box as he sat down.

Sliding it towards him he felt his breath catcher moment as if he was more nervous than he let himself know.

He pulled at the flaps and released them.

Marcus peered over the edge and looked inside.

Books?

He shifted them to get a better look.

Yearbooks.

Taking them out, he placed them on the table and looked back inside.

A few more books were shoved inside the box, they had slid to the side against the cardboard wall.

There were three different books, and each had a different pattern on them. One was gold and navy striped going across horizontally, the second was hot pink with small silver polka dots, and the third was a pale blue had yellow flowers scatted across the front. He turned them over to look for titles but didn't see any writing on the front or spine.

Nameless books? Probably notes for a class or something.

Unsure of the purpose of her mother giving them to him, he placed them on the table and turned back to the box.

What else?

He twisted his head to see a thin silver item slide down the side of the box.

Marcus reached in before it could slide further and caught it.

Her iPhone.

He pressed the home button.

Dead.

Standing up from the table he walked over to a kitchen drawer and opened it.

Rummaging around for a bit he found an extra charger, Marcus walked over and plugged the phone into the wall and placed it on the counter.

Looking at the screen he saw the battery pop up indicating it was charging.

Marcus turned and walked back to the table and sat down.

Picking up a year book, he thumbed the spine as he read its gold filigree lettering.

CALGARY MIDDLE SCHOOL 2001

2001? She'd have been about 13. What is that 7

th

grade?

He thumbed the pages looking for her class.

Finally he found a a page with a bold seven at the top followed by rows of cheesing faces.

All of these people knew her. Knew her in a way he never would.

Marcus smirked.

The entire page was covered in a braces and acne. He wondered what she looked like.

He flipped a page looking for the B's.

Sliding his fingers down the names.

Barker...Beeks...Birden...Bosley...Burke!

He kept his finger on the page and slide it to the left over the row of faces.

Bingo.

There she was.

Lila looked exactly how he'd imagined she'd would.

Adorable.

He smiled against the edge of his beer bottle as he took another swallow.

Her hair was longer than it had been when he knew her.

She wore glasses. Marcus wondered if it was a fashion thing, he never remembered seeing her wear glasses around him.

He flipped through the pages and found her name pop up on the clubs and sports page.

Theatre club, soccer team, swim team. She was all over the place. He scanned each picture looking for her among the groups.

She was always beaming and looking proud.

Marcus felt his heart strings tug a little at seeing this part of her life. The young achiever in her was pretty awesome. He was about to reach for the 2002 yearbook when he heard a *

DING*

.

Marcus turned around to find the source of the sound and saw it was from the phone. It had charged enough that it turned itself on.

Should I look at it?

Well it's not like anyone was going to tell him not to. Heck it was basically given to him so he could study her life. What could give him more information than her phone? He stood and walked over to it and pressed the home button.

Instantly a picture popped up. It was a photo of her and brother Darren making funny faces at the camera. Darren didn't appear anywhere near as intimidating as he had at his mother's house. He actually appeared kind goofy standing next to Lila with his finger mockingly up her nose with his nose comically scrunched up and his tongue sticking out. Standing next to her Marcus could see the size difference between the two. She was so short compared to her brother and had a much smaller frame compared to his huge muscular one. Darren's reaction to him made much more sense now. Clearly he had been his sister's protector her whole life, probably knew almost everything about her. Well almost, clearly didn't know about Marcus. Which was why Darren didn't trust him.

Marcus slid his thumb across the glass screen to unlock the phone.

Dammit. Needs a passcode.

How the heck was he supposed to know her phone passcode?

Whatever, not like I'm gonna figure it out tonight.

He placed the phone back onto the counter and he turned his back towards it to lean against the counter.

Looking at the pile on the kitchen table Marcus thought to himself.

Sure he'd seen a few things that told him a little more than he'd originally knew about her but he didn't feel any closer.

Any closer to her. Any closer to closure.

Granted he'd only pulled out a handful of items, there were quite a few things still inside the box.

Nothing I'll be seeing tonight though.

He thought with realization of how tired he was. Tomorrow would be a good day to really dive into it.

Maybe even try to figure out that passcode.

Marcus downed what was left of his beer and tossed it in the trashcan.

Walking by the table he picked up the yearbook he had already looked at and then headed towards his bedroom with Stormy at his heels.

He didn't bother showering, just undressed down to his boxers before climbing into bed.

Once comfortable he turned the book open to where Lila's seventh grade picture was and studied her a little more.

He wondered what she had actually been like in the seventh grade. Sure she was a high achiever but was she as sweet as he knew her to be. Would they had gotten along if they'd met? He himself had been a bit more of the jock type from junior high all the way through college. She'd probably would have found him annoying.

Marcus laughed. They'd always bickered before about politics and such. She'd would get annoyed with him and he secretly enjoyed agitating her.

She was so passionate about her beliefs.

He remembered that well and clear.

"How can you possibly think that?" Lila almost yelled at him across her bedroom. "Yes, inflation will always be a reality but the bottom line is if the minimum wage was set at a more realistic number and stayed consistent with inflation and the cost of living then inflation would never be an issue!"

"All I'm saying is that if people would watch their dollars and cents a little better inflation wouldn't be an issue now. Seems to me most people are in debt due to poor spending choices." Marcus responded.

He was laying in bed, completely naked beneath her covers. He knew she was only getting riled up and he was fighting back the smile that threatened to appear. She was so cute when she was yelling at him. Her arms would raise jump higher the louder her voice got and she would always pace to calm herself down.

"Marcus, that is such small minded thinking! Nobody

wants

to be poor!"

Lila was standing at the foot of the bed holding up a sheet to cover her nudity and making her usual argumentative gestures with her other hand.

"The system is set up so there is always a clear divide between the upper and lower classes!"

Her hand flew right up to the level of her shoulder.

Yea, she's getting pissed.

His smile betrayed him and she cut her eyes towards him before reluctantly smirking.

"You ass." She said tossing a pillow at him.

Marcus let out a laugh, "You are just so easy to mess with, I can't help it."

"Whatever nerd, you deserve to be punished for that." Lila looked at him slyly.

He loved it.

"Well then get over here and punish me."

Lila dropped the sheet and crawled onto the bed, eyeing him like a prey.

Marcus smiled, he was going to get exactly what he deserved...and wanted.

He smiled at the memory.

He never found himself unhappy when he was with her.

She'd been not only amazing in bed, but she was amazingly sweet, incredibly brilliant, and funny as well.

Why didn't I ever make a move?

For the first time ever Marcus questioned their relationship.

Sure he had been satisfied with it, but maybe a little too comfortable.

If she was so damned amazing why didn't he make her his? He never thought he'd been taking advantage of her but now, he felt as if he had.

He didn't like this new realization and Marcus had to wonder.

Did she ever think about it too? A real relationship between us?

Marcus shut the book and placed it on the the table next to him and turned out the light.

In the dark he considered what just happened.

If these are the feelings going through her stuff is going to bring about then maybe I shouldn't do it.

With that, he turned over and fought for sleep.

But the last thoughts on his mind were of Lila and the awareness that he may have missed his chance at real happiness...forever.